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Chateau Julien, Carmel Valley,
13 August 2009.

The Ferrari Club of America Pacific Region has normally held its annual concours in conjunction with Concorso Italiano, on the Friday of the Monterey week. However, after the disappointment with last year's venue at Marina Airport, and the uncertainty as to whether Concorso Italiano would happen this year (it did), they organised a stand-alone event at the Chateau Julien Winery in Carmel Valley, on Thursday 14 August. At least by moving the event further inland, they were certainly going to benefit from a lack of sea mist, normally prevalent with coastal events on the Monterey peninsular, and this proved to be the case with beautiful sunshine throughout the day. The only drawbacks were that it was something else to schedule into an already hectic week of activity, and a clash with the Tour de Pebble Beach, the first opportunity to see what this year's concours had to offer.

The lure of a winery certainly seemed to have the desired effect on the local Ferrari club members, as over one hundred and twenty examples were registered as concours entrants and display cars, whilst others turning up on the off chance on the day had to be redirected to public parking areas, as the venue was at capacity. There was a fine selection of models ranged through and around the vines, the earliest example being the beautiful dark blue 212 Inter Vignale Cabriolet, chassis # 0255 EU. Mention should also be made of the ex-Scuderia Filipinetti 512 F, chassis # 1048, which graced the main lawn in front of the winery. For those who are not purists, and who like something a little different, there was a 400i Cabriolet wearing highly polished after-market wheels, and a 400i Stretched Limousine (carrying all its added weight on wire wheels!) to meet their requirements. There was a nice selection of 250 GT models, including a SWB Berlinetta, chassis # 1905 GT, and a California Spider, chassis # 3195 GT, plus a pair of Lussos, chassis #s 4521 GT and 5003 GT. Add in a quartet of 275 GTBs, a sextet of 365 GTB/4s, plus numerous more modern variants, including many Flat 12s, examples of the GTO (288), F40, F50, Enzo, and the new California, and it can be seen that there was an interesting range of Ferrari models on display.

Keith Bluemel


08/2009

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